Volker Wissing is in a hurry. Not really, that’s not his nature at all. Outwardly, he always seems calm, almost serene. Pragmatic. Sober. The new Federal Minister for Digital Affairs and Transport is in a hurry in a figurative sense because he knows that he has taken over an area of responsibility that needs a general overhaul. And time is of the essence.
Digital politics is not his biggest problem child, even if it has given rise to scorn and ridicule in the past. But the old-fashioned fax, impractical as it may be, at least doesn’t have a dramatically bad carbon footprint. The car does. Much more important is therefore the reform of transport policy, which so many are pushing for: the green coalition partner, the environmental associations, not least Fridays for Future, even the courts. They are all loudly calling for a “traffic turnaround”, a kind of U-turn on the open road. That means: away from the car and towards local public transport. Or by bike, preferably on foot. It has not yet been decided whether there can actually be such a U-turn with an FDP minister like Wissing. Critics say: Hardly.
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